Grandidier Fund
The Fonds Grandidier is a scientific institute with an extensive palaeontological collection and an attached zoo, Botanical and Zoological Park Tsimbazaza in Antananarivo on Madagascar . It is both an information and documentation center for this research. The institute was presented to the public in 1993, and the zoo opened on August 29, 1925.
The basis of the collection comes from the personal library that Alfred Grandidier (1836–1921), later expanded by his son William (1873–1957), collected during his lifetime and later bequeathed to the state. It contains finds from the countries Grandidier has visited, but above all from Madagascar. This also includes parts of Malagasy life that document the culture, socialization, technology, religion, language and history. The collection contains over 13,000 monographs , some as manuscripts, some newspaper clippings and reprints; Over 3000 photographs mainly from the second half of the 19th century , i.e. from before and at the beginning of the colonial era, as well as almost 300 maps. Cataloging is still under construction.
The documentation center aims to provide a better understanding of the country's history.